Background information and photos for media use

Press release

Hubbard County Historical Society plans commemorative events
HCHS plans events celebrating Depression-era life, with the chance for the public to saw firewood, churn butter, and many other activities that show what life was like for the Linsley family, culminating in an old-fashioned pie and ice cream social on the lawn of the Society's museum in Park Rapids. Full release text

Descendants of Depression Era Rural Classmates Finally Meet
Over 75 years ago, their parents attended Vokes School – a tiny one-room schoolhouse in District 13 near Park Rapids and Nevis, Minnesota. There were 15 students from 7 families in grades 1 through 12 in the class, taught by Miss Eula Edum, 19, a first-year teacher with one year of education past high school.Full release text

Great Depression Journal: Mother Home-Schooled “Problem” Student – Later Nominated for Nobel Prize in Physics
It was the Great Depression in rural Minnesota. From her small cabin with no utilities, Martha Linsley, a certified teacher, fought school district administrators for the right to home-school her two children. Defending her gifted son, who would eventually be nominated for a Nobel Physics Prize, she was threatened with fines - and even jail time....Full release text

DearDaddy.com: New Website Chronicles Minnesota Family's Life
During the Great Depression
They were the victims of a mortgage scam and greedy lenders, the nation's crops were failing in record-setting heat, unemployment was soaring, the economy was in free-fall — the lame duck president was overwhelmed, but a newly-elected president was promising change. It was the early 1930s....Full release text

Photos

Caption 1: First Visit to the farm in 1931, with John, Martha, and Ruth
Caption 2: John splitting kindling & Ruth with The Mother Cat, 1932
Caption 3: The cabin in winter
Caption 4: Ruth and John with Mitzi; James had this photo color-tinted and framed for her birthday
Caption 5:Ruth in the grove in winter, with the cabin & snow-covered Model-T in the background